


Bubbles, Ponies and Second Chances

by mammothluv



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-11
Updated: 2011-01-11
Packaged: 2017-10-14 16:11:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/151090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mammothluv/pseuds/mammothluv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set directly after 7.10, "Adrift And At Peace." Lexie has doubts about trying again with Mark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bubbles, Ponies and Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> Grey's Anatomy belongs to Shonda Rimes and ABC. I'm not making any profit and no copyright infringement is intended.  
> This is a ga_fanfic secret santa gift for helen_halliwell. I hope you enjoy it! Many thanks to my betas, foibles_fables and lone_lilly.

Lexie remembers studying severe combined immune deficiency syndrome in med school. The case study was a boy who lived in a bubble for all twelve years of his life, incapable of surviving in the outside world.

Lexie felt sorry for him then. The thought of him kept her up for nights, the image of him alone in his cocoon only ever touched by his parents through plastic gloves. She'd picture herself in his place, tears stinging her face as she imagined never being able to hug her mother or sprawl on the grass in the summer to let the sun warm her skin.

That was before she knew the pain of losing a parent, of losing someone she loved even when they were still living and breathing and working right next to her, before she'd had a gun pointed at her heart.

She still feels sorry for that boy when she thinks of him but there's also something appealing about being treated so gingerly, of people acknowledging how easily you might break. There's a part of her now that thinks maybe that barrier between him and the outside world and the people in it wasn't all bad.

If anyone could read her thoughts, they'd probably say this was a weird thing to think about when Mark Sloan had just kissed her, seriously kissed her. She's hardly immune to Mark's seduction techniques. She's thinking too about the warm, familiar feel of his lips against hers, places she knows those lips will travel if she lets this continue. Just the thought sends a small shiver of anticipation rippling through her.

But Lexie feels like she and Mark are in their own bubble here at Joe's. If they move too quickly or too far it will burst when she remembers all the reasons she tried so long not to let this reunion happen. She doesn't believe anymore that happy can be simple. So when Mark tries to lead her out the door she guides him to a table and orders them both a drink instead in an attempt to keep reality at bay for just a little longer.

She revels in the steady weight of his hands on her back and the knowing way his lips and tongue explore familiar but long neglected territory. But, even as she leans into him, in the back of her mind is the fear that this thing that feels almost safe right now will turn toxic when they venture out into the cold harsh air of the Seattle winter.

So she orders another drink and then another until she almost stops worrying about the bubble but not quite. Now she's also a little too tipsy to feel like getting up anyway so she snuggles more closely against Mark and when he reaches for their coats, looking like he's ready to try dragging her out the door again, she tries desperately to think of something to distract him.

"Can you believe April had an actual pony?" she asks hurriedly. Lexie takes another sip of her drink and tries to push aside the jealously her inner ten year old is feeling toward April right now.

She can't say why that's the first thing to spring from her mouth but the distraction works. "What?" he asks, his slightly furrowed brow indicating his confusion at the sudden outburst.

"April Kepner. She had an actual pony growing up. Sometimes, and I know it isn't nice and I do try not to, but sometimes I think I might hate her just a little bit."

"Because of the pony?" Mark isn't paying attention, really. She can tell by the tone of his voice and the lazy patterns his finger is tracing on her leg. She reaches out to still his hand then rethinks it, her hand hovering just above his for a moment before she settles for resting it atop his, stilling the movement of his fingers but not moving his hand from its resting place on her leg. She knows him. She knows this and, as much as she thinks she should fight it, she doesn't want to. She's just thankful he's sitting still again.

"The pony..." she says it loudly enough that a few nurses at the next table turn their heads quickly to look at her but her responding glare is enough to send their heads snapping back in the other direction. She's quieter when she continues, leans up to Mark's ear and whispers, "The pony was named Sparkle."

Mark chuckles and they're sitting so close that she can feel the vibration. "Lexie, why are we sitting here talking about ponies?"

"Because April's a jerk, a jerk with a chore wheel and a freaking pony."

"Kepner is annoying, I'll grant you that but there are so many other things you and I could be doing." He emphasizes his point by moving the hand currently resting on her thigh just a little higher. "So, why is it that we're not only still here but talking about Kepner's childhood pets?"

"S...C...I...D," Lexie says slowly, turning and looking directly at him and then reaching up her hand and tapping one finger lightly against the side of his face for emphasis.

"Excuse me?"

"Severe combined immune deficiency syndrome," she says impatiently.

"I know what it is. I just don't understand what immune deficiency has to do with Kepner's pony or the fact that you refuse to budge out of this booth."

"Joe's is our bubble." Lexie rolls her eyes at Mark's questioning look. "Not in the sterile sense because it's Joe's and just a second ago I saw a peds intern lick his fingers and then reach into a bowl of bar nuts. That is so disgustingly not sterile." Mark grimaces and pushes the bowl of nuts on their table to the other side and out of their reach as Lexie continues her explanation. "Joe's is where Cristina, Cristina Yang for God's sake, gives complete strangers lap dances. Where unsanitary peds guy over there..." She gestures toward him just narrowly avoiding knocking over her and Mark's beers. "Unsanitary peds guy is making out with the hot nurse from oncology. Things happen here that can't survive in the real world."

Mark laughs, low and deep. At her offended look he says, "I'm sorry. Really. I missed Lexie logic." His face serious now he continues, "I missed you. And we can survive in the real world."

"What if we can't?" Her tone is almost desperate.

"We will. We'll be better at it this time. I'll be better."

She smiles. Though she likes hearing it, a simple 'we'll be better' doesn't seem like enough. It isn't insurance against the heartbreak and devastation she knows she's not ready to face again. But she's beginning to feel the seductive pull of hope so she lets him lead her out of Joe's and drive her home, kisses him again on Meredith's porch before they say goodnight.

Morning arrives with a headache and the dull throbbing of the doubts she wants so badly to dismiss. She starts rehearsing a speech in her head. She's mentally listing all the reasons this isn't a good idea, never has been, and why they should stop now before they break each other again. She’s trying to steel herself against the objections she knows he'll have at the ready.

Then she opens her locker to find a pink, plastic pony staring back at her. It's small, a kids toy. Even though it's plastic she holds it in her hands carefully as if it could shatter at any second. Maybe she doesn't quite believe it's really there.

It's ridiculous. She tries to picture Mark Sloan actually buying a My Little Pony. A giggle escapes her mouth before she can stop it. She touches the small purple gemstone on the pony's side.

The list of objections and reasons not to try that's been crowding her mind since last night begins to dissipate. She's remembering instead Mark's tight grip on her hand as he checked her in to psych. She’s remembering the months after the shooting when wouldn't take his eyes off her until he knew she was okay.

As much as his watchful gaze may have frustrated her then, the fact is he took care of her even when they weren’t together, even when she didn’t make it easy.

She's pulled out of her thoughts by a loud snort and looks up to find Alex staring at her. "Is that a pony?" he asks incredulously.

Lexie carefully places the pony back on the top shelf of her locker and slams the door shut.

"Shut up about my pony," she says as she marches out of the locker room. "My pony is awesome."

As she exits the locker room she sees Mark leaning against the reception desk talking to Dr. Altman. She marches toward them purposefully. When she reaches Mark, she stands on her tiptoes and puts one hand on each side of head, pulling him toward her until he's close enough to kiss. And then she does kiss him, slowly and thoroughly.

"What was that for?" he asks.

Lexie smiles widely at the satisfied and slightly cocky tone in his voice.

"I was just thinking," Lexie says, feeling the small spark of hope from last night rise within her once again, "maybe we aren't doomed after all." Then turning to Dr. Altman who has watched them impassively this entire time Lexie says, just before turning and walking away, "Sorry, for the interruption. That was unprofessional. Please continue your conversation."


End file.
